Posts by John Smith 19

Yeah

But are they a patch on the Dominator XL?

Wonder if this plot idea was ever done

I had it back when there was a Soviet Union but I suspect it would still work now.

I pictured some cube rat in the Finance section of the department dealing with illegals. He sets up new accounts for them, makes sure their pay goes on time etc.

One day he gets to thinking "What if I added an agent or two. Let the salaries pile up then bring them home." Little by little he puts the plan together, works out ways round the security (getting his boss to sign off the paperwork etc) and put's it into effect.

Finally it's running like clockwork. He's not a greedy man and he's just about ready to shut it down and have the money disappear when he's called to equivalent of Internal Affairs.

The officer from IA has put it together. He's looking at a bullet to the head and an unmarked grave.

OTOH says the officer, we could just double the number of your illegals.

The End.

The End.

Nice

Looking forward to the rest.

Women's prisons offer so much opportunity for drama and friendship (from the original reform school girls to prisoner cell block H).

Once I heard EU law treats ISP's as carriers

Can't understand how that POS legislation *ever* got drafted.

But remember, The Dark Lord's followers are taking names and notes.

They believe their master will rise again.

Turn the best ones into a template the rest can copy?

Yes inventing something from scratch is *hard*, so why not copy one that works?

Seriously how much variation in legal forms is actually *allowed* between the different levels and regions of UK local authorities?

Just a thought.

109 MEPs voted against it.

That's a start.

I wonder how many of them would not have if El Reg readers had not written to them?

Thumbs down because this is a *bad* treaty and is *highly* asymmetrical.

What a *brilliant* test environment

For both real time speech generation and real time connected speech recognition.

The challenge. The *most* convincing simulation of a caller with most authentic "voice" (neither robotic nor pre-sampled speech) and plausible questions and answers.

Let the games commence.

How open source is VoIP

Skype is the one everyone recognises, but are there less well known (better?) but compatible options ?

Just asking as I imagine some Reg readers have been benchmarking this stuff.

You want *absolute* truth?

Read the holy book of your chosen deity.

You want the best known (as of right now) model of the physical world. Do Science.

But *if* you choose that option make sure you see *all* the caveats, uncertainty limits, gaps in theory etc.

Both options seems to have drawbacks.

Internet radio basically needs a broadband connection.

DAB are *heavy* battery users.

Lumping *all* of this together as "digital" radio seems *extremely* misleading.

It would seem

that only getting *all* the lawyers and senior execs involved in a big room and with several Claymore mines in the centre would end this.*

Not of course that I advocate this because that could be seen as inciting a terrorist incident (use of a military weapon) just saying that only *something* on that scale would seem to be able to end this once and for all.

Highly appropriate

"Perfect Citizen"

The *only* kind they expect to have left once the system has gone live and all "anomalies" have been eliminated.

Black helo's. I think so.

Shock news. UK Gov does what they are *legally* obliged to do by European Court

They might consider reviewing their behavior on the DNA retention of *innocent* people as well..

Thumbs up because stroking a politician sometimes works and they need to be given all the positive reinforcement they can.

drink + drugs + fast cars -> trouble.

Whereas drink + drugs (in own or friends home) = who gives a s@$t.

I'm sure Ms Lohan will use her time constructively to make many new friends, no doubt some of whom have felt her to be quite a role model for their lifestyle.

Interesting quote

"The authors argue that it is time to review Australia’s complex and inconsistent media content regulation system to take account of the online era."

And the same could probably said of *any* major economy's laws on the same subject.

Should different media be governed by different laws? Same laws? Same laws (with exceptions)?

She makes a valid point. It'll be interesting if any one pays attention.

Very impressive systems thinking, if it works.

And what a big if that is.

The duct thing sounds like an application of the "ejector" principle, a bit like the Dyson air mover, treating the shroud as not just a pit of safety screening to stop meatsacks walking into the props but a subtle integral part of the airflow management.

This problem was so enormously tricky and complex that only by considering *everything* working together would it be solved in anything like an affordable way. That includes the whole making a chopper handle with near car like controls.

Thumbs up if it works.

Phorm. Last of the unflushables.

I hope not.

So EU states ISP's are carriers *already*

IE they just provide the pipe.

What goes down it is *none* of their business.

AFAIK EU law supersedes members national law *every* time on subjects where the EU is *allowed* to legislate in the first place.

WTF allowed this law to *ever* get to 1st reading given this 1 *simple* fact.

I guess cash is *the* lubricant for legislative intercourse.

Flames for this law *ever* being allowed into law once that single fact is known. A very grudging thumbs up to BT Retail (AKA Phorm UK) for doing the right thing.

Women MP has since of humour shock.

Full story in article.

But fuion *already* produces

An inexhaustible supply of PhD's in Plasma Physics.

Oh you want it to produce more electricity than it consumes.

That's going to cost a bit more.

So vendors and banks *know* ATM's have vulnerabilities

That just don't want Joe citizen to realize it.

What's that? Nothing to hide, nothing to fear?

Funny how you never hear that from a corporation.

BTW Skip the online version. It's been sanitised.

Wood pistons used as running repairs in Africa

Remember IC engines are pulse heating systems. The piston of any given cylinder remains fairly cool most of the cycle.

Now making the whole *block* and cylinder head out of wood is a whole different thing.

Shock news. Scientists do science and downgrade a threat

This is what science is *supposed* to do.

Have model, obtain data, verify or discount a hypothesis, narrowing the range of uncertainty in a model.

It *could* have also gone the other way, and there are other "tipping point" scenarios this does improve or resolve. It does beg a few questions.

What *have* climate modelers been using as values for these factors?

How many *other* variables are there (or rather "suspected" variables as this has turned out not to be one)

Has the list of things climate modelers don't know/can't bracket been published?

I'd settle for the just the ones they know they don't know. The inability to extend weather forecasting models beyond 5 days suggest there are a few they don't know about.

thumbs up for scientists doing science, *not* politics.

Use for Astute class after all.

Who'd have thought it.

"more than £10bn of expenditure" "£37Bn to Scottish and Welsh administrations"..

Or rather we *think* they did.

It sounds like there is no way to actually *know* how much they administered and who to.

Grossly disproportinate for stated task

Sounds like a DPA violation.

I think only the people who had been involved would have a reasonable case.

Keeping piggy out of the trough may be the only effective deterrent

BTW IIRC there are provisions in the UK Companies acts for "Shadow directors," who don't have a seat on any board but excercise substantial influence.

The *only* fine that would make any sense would be one scaled to the excess profits the company made. But this divides the interests of the company from those of the directors.

Cartels and price fixing are *always* good for companies in the know. But this punishment makes sure the people who actually *form* the company get it right in the neck. This should be a strong *personal* disincentive to think twice about playing such games.

To be a little bit serious

It is *highly* unlikely that ISS supplies would be allowed to fall to the level where they are 1 ship away from starvation, hence the "Not essential" comment.

I looked up the Soyuz on board computers and they are beasts. USSR mfg chips and weigh about 70Kg (roughly late 60's TTL near as I can tell). The docking hardware is likely to be a *bit* more up to date. In some ways this is a bad thing as the smaller geometry makes it *more* prone to single even upset by a stray particle releasing holes and electrons in the wrong place. It's still doubtful this would have caused the fail.

Weather this is what happened or if its a simpler explanation, (dry PCB joint, loose aerial connection) will probably have to wait for a board of enquiry. it is *very* curious that ISS should loose telemetry data at such short range from the transmitter.